TheNeolithic Revolution, also known as the First Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of manyhuman cultures during theNeolithic period inAfro-Eurasia from a lifestyle ofhunting and gathering to one ofagriculture andsettlement, making an increasingly large population possible.[1] These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants, learning how they grew and developed.[2] This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants intocrops.[2][3]
Archaeological data indicate that thedomestication of various types ofplants and animals happened in separate locations worldwide, starting in thegeological epoch of theHolocene around 11,700 years ago, after the end of the last Ice Age.[4][failed verification] It was humankind's first historically verifiable transition to agriculture. The Neolithic Revolution greatly narrowed the diversity of foods available, resulting in a decrease in the quality of human nutrition compared with that obtained previously from hunting andforaging.[5][6][7] However, because food production became more efficient, it released humans to invest their efforts in other activities and was thus "ultimately necessary to the rise of modern civilization by creating the foundation for the later process of industrialization and sustained economic growth".[8]
Battle-scene from Les Dogues,approx. 5800 BC. The armed conflict between two parties documented here (a group of 11 men vs. 18 fighters on the right) may illustrate behaviour that Homo sapiens is typically forced into when food resources are severely scarce. The introduction of agriculture and political cooperation tends to counteract both.
The Neolithic Revolution encompassed much more than just the introduction of various food production techniques. The cultivation of large areas of land and the erection of monumental structures such asGöbekli Tepe required a level of labour that the small groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers who had hitherto dominatedhuman prehistory could hardly have achieved on their own. Therefore, some modern scientists assume that the era discussed here was also accompanied by the establishment of cross-group organisations. The small communities, which had previously lived autonomously and often in competition with each other decided instead to cooperate, forming first alliances,[9] that began tosettle down and build permanent villages near their agricultural land. Over the following millennia, the most successful of these may have grown into thecity-states, which are mentioned in the oldest written documents of mankind (cf.Shuruppak). These proverbially antediluvian societies radically altered theirnatural environment throughdeforestation, cultivation of certain crops andirrigation. Other developments that began to spread during this period are thedomestication of animals, creatingpottery and polishedstone tools, and the change from round to rectangular dwellings. In many regions, animal and plant breeding enabled the production of food surpluses, which in turn resulted in rapid population growth, a phenomenon known as theNeolithic demographic transition.
These developments are sometimes called theNeolithic package.[10] Including earliest political alliances – whose massive influence on the landscape ofEden and the later Near Eastern myths about creation of mankind inthis area may be impressively described in theAtrahasis epic –, they form the backdrop to an increasingdivision of labour, leading to the emergence of centralised administrations and specialised crafts, in line with hierarchicalideologies,[11] expanding trade and military operations, depersonalised systems of knowledge (e.g.writing), aggregation ofproperty[12] andarchitecture indensely populated settlements, whose often monumentalart primarily proclaim the power of the founders, depicting them as gods.
Among theoldest known large-scale structures in human history are the circular formations ofanthropomorphic megalith pillars at Göbekli Tepe in northern Mesopotamia (built around9,500 BP); the earliest written records originate from the Sumeriancivilisation, which also emerged in theFertile Crescent (c. 6,500BP) and heralded the beginning of theBronze Age.[13] The relationship of the aforementioned Neolithic characteristics to the onset of agriculture, their sequence of emergence, and their empirical relation to each other at various Neolithic sites remains the subject of academic debate. It is usually understood to vary from place to place, rather than being the outcome of universal laws ofsocial evolution.[14][15]
Prehistorichunter-gatherers had differentsubsistence requirements and lifestyles from agriculturalists. They lived in relatively small groups that were often highly mobile (migratory), built only temporary shelters, and had limited contact with foreign communities. This and theautonomous economic lifestyle of such groups are mutually dependent; the latter also explains the mutual competition for available resources. Territorial conflicts (as sometimes documented by the actors themselves in rock carvings) were therefore probably not uncommon in human prehistory, but Aristotle already assumed that Homo sapiens – defined by him aszoon pliticon – differed from all other animal species primarily in its ability to form political alliances. His highly evolvedreason allowed him to cooperate with foreign groups based on an understanding of the advantages of such measures, and to do so ‘much earlier than previously believed by research’ (Klaus Schmidt).
Agriculture represents another achievement of our reason. It differs in content from the initial formation of cross-group organisations, which is why both may have been introduced independently of each other, even if they mostly merged in the course of further demographic and civilisational development. The diet of hunter-gatherers was (and is) well-balanced though heavily dependent on what the environment could provide each season.[16][17] In contrast, because thesurplus andplannable supply of food provided by agriculture made it possible to support larger population groups, agriculturalists lived in more permanent dwellings in more densely populatedsettlements than what could be supported by a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The agricultural communities' seasonal need to plan and coordinateresource andmanpower encourageddivision of labour, which gradually led tospecialization of labourers andcomplex societies. The subsequent development oftrading networks to exchange surplus commodities and services brought agriculturalists into contact with outside groups, which promotedcultural exchanges that led to the rise ofcivilizations andtechnological evolutions.[18][full citation needed]
However, higher population and food abundance did not necessarily correlate with improved health. Reliance on a very limited variety ofstaple crops can adversely affect health even while making it possible to feed more people. As an example from the Americas,maize is deficient in certain essentialamino acids (lysine andtryptophan) and is a poor source ofiron. Thephytic acid it contains may inhibitnutrient absorption. Other factors that likely affected the health of early agriculturalists and their domesticatedlivestock would have been increased numbers ofparasites and disease-bearing pests associated with human waste and contaminated food and water supplies.Fertilizers andirrigation may have increased crop yields but also would have promoted proliferation ofinsects andbacteria in the local environment while grain storage attracted additional insects androdents.[18]
Evolution of temperatures in the Post-Glacial period after theLast Glacial Maximum (LGM) according toGreenland ice cores. The birth of agriculture corresponds to the period of quickly rising temperature at the end of the cold spell of theYounger Dryas and the beginning of the long and warm period of theHolocene.[19]Map of the world showing approximate centres of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory: the Fertile Crescent (11,000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9,000 BP) and the Papua New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000 BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000 BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000 BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000 BP).[20]Associations of wild cereals and other wild grasses in Israel.[further explanation needed]
The term 'neolithic revolution' was invented byV. Gordon Childe in his bookMan Makes Himself (1936).[21][22] Childe introduced it as the first in a series of agricultural revolutions inMiddle Eastern history,[23] calling it a "revolution" to denote its significance, the degree of change to communities adopting and refining agricultural practices.[23]
The beginning of this process in different regions has been dated from 10,000 to 8,000 BCE in theFertile Crescent,[24][25] and perhaps 8000 BCE in theKuk Early Agricultural Site of Papua New Guinea inMelanesia.[26][27] Everywhere, this transition is associated with a change from a largelynomadichunter-gatherer way of life to a moresettled, agrarian one, with thedomestication of various plant and animal species – depending on the species locally available, and influenced by local culture. Archaeological research in 2003 suggests that in some regions, such as the Southeast Asian peninsula, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist was not linear, but region-specific.[28]
Once agriculture started gaining momentum, around 9000 BP, human activity resulted in theselective breeding of cereal grasses (beginning withemmer,einkorn andbarley), and not simply of those that favoured greater caloric returns through larger seeds. Plants with traits such as small seeds or bitter taste were seen as undesirable. Plants that rapidly shed their seeds on maturity tended not to be gathered at harvest, therefore not stored and not seeded the following season; successive years of harvesting spontaneously selected for strains that retained their edible seeds longer.
An "Orange slice" sickle blade element with inverse, discontinuous retouch on each side, not denticulated. Found in large quantities at Qaraoun II and often withHeavy Neolithic tools in the flint workshops of theBeqaa Valley inLebanon. Suggested byJames Mellaart to be older than thePottery Neolithic ofByblos (around 8,400 cal. BP).
Daniel Zohary identified several plant species as "pioneer crops" orNeolithic founder crops. He highlighted the importance of wheat, barley and rye, and suggested that domestication offlax,peas,chickpeas,bitter vetch andlentils came a little later. Based on analysis of thegenes of domesticated plants, he preferred theories of a single, or at most a very small number of domestication events for eachtaxon that spread in an arc from theLevantine corridor around theFertile Crescent and later into Europe.[29][30]Gordon Hillman and Stuart Davies carried out experiments with varieties of wild wheat to show that the process of domestication would have occurred over a relatively short period of between 20 and 200 years.[31]
Some of the pioneering attempts failed at first and crops were abandoned, sometimes to be taken up again and successfully domesticated thousands of years later:rye, tried and abandoned in NeolithicAnatolia, made its way to Europe as weed seeds and was successfully domesticated in Europe, thousands of years after the earliest agriculture.[32] Wild lentils presented a different problem: most of the wild seeds do not germinate in the first year; the first evidence of lentil domestication, breaking dormancy in their first year, appears in the early Neolithic atJerf el Ahmar (in modern Syria), and lentils quickly spread south to theNetiv HaGdud site in theJordan Valley.[32] The process of domestication allowed the founder crops to adapt and eventually become larger, more easily harvested, more dependable[clarification needed] in storage and more useful to the human population.
Once early farmers perfected their agricultural techniques likeirrigation (traced as far back as the 6th millennium BCE inKhuzistan[34][35]), their cropsyielded surpluses that needed storage. Most hunter-gatherers could not easily store food for long due to their migratory lifestyle, whereas those with a sedentary dwelling could store their surplus grain. Eventuallygranaries were developed that allowed villages to store their seeds longer. So with more food, the population expanded and communities developed specialized workers and more advanced tools.
The process was not as linear as was once thought, but a more complicated effort, which was undertaken by different human populations in different regions in many different ways.
Genetic analysis on the spread of barley from 9,000 to 2,000 BP[36]
One of the world's most important crops,barley, was domesticated in the Near East around 11,000 years ago (c. 9,000 BCE).[36] Barley is a highly resilient crop, able to grow in varied and marginal environments, such as in regions of high altitude and latitude.[36] Archaeobotanical evidence shows that barley had spread throughout Eurasia by 2,000 BCE.[36] To further elucidate the routes by which barley cultivation was spread through Eurasia, genetic analysis was used to determine genetic diversity and population structure in extant barley taxa.[36] Genetic analysis shows that cultivated barley spread through Eurasia via several different routes, which were most likely separated in both time and space.[36]
When hunter-gathering began to be replaced by sedentary food production it became more efficient to keep animals close at hand. Therefore, it became necessary to bring animals permanently to their settlements, although in many cases there was a distinction between relatively sedentary farmers and nomadic herders.[37][original research?] The animals' size, temperament, diet, mating patterns, and life span were factors in the desire and success in domesticating animals. Animals that provided milk, such as cows and goats, offered a source of protein that was renewable and therefore quite valuable. The animal's ability as a worker (for example ploughing or towing), as well as a food source, also had to be taken into account. Besides being a direct source of food, certain animals could provide leather, wool, hides, and fertilizer. Some of the earliest domesticated animals includeddogs (East Asia, about 15,000 years ago),[38] sheep, goats, cows, and pigs.
The presence of these animals gave the region a large advantage in cultural and economic development. As the climate in the Middle East changed and became drier, many of the farmers were forced to leave, taking their domesticated animals with them. It was this massive emigration from the Middle East that later helped distribute these animals to the rest ofAfroeurasia. This emigration was mainly on an east–west axis of similar climates, as crops usually have a narrow optimal climatic range outside of which they cannot grow for reasons of light or rain changes. For instance, wheat does not normally grow in tropical climates, just like tropical crops such as bananas do not grow in colder climates. Some authors, likeJared Diamond, have postulated that this east–west axis is the main reason why plant and animal domestication spread so quickly from theFertile Crescent to the rest of Eurasia and North Africa, while it did not reach through the north–south axis ofAfrica to reach the Mediterranean climates ofSouth Africa, where temperate crops were successfully imported by ships in the last 500 years.[41] Similarly, the AfricanZebu of central Africa and the domesticated bovines of the fertile-crescent – separated by the dry sahara desert – were not introduced into each other's region.
Use-wear analysis of fiveglossed flint blades found atOhalo II, a 23,000-years-old fisher-hunter-gatherers' camp on the shore of theSea of Galilee, NorthernIsrael, provides the earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools.[42] The Ohalo site is at the junction of theUpper Paleolithic and the EarlyEpipaleolithic, and has been attributed to both periods.[43]
The wear traces indicate that tools were used for harvesting near-ripe semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains are ripe and disperse naturally.[42] The studied tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted in a handle.[42] The finds shed new light on cereal harvesting techniques some 8,000 years before theNatufian and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East.[42] Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site and the use of stone-made grinding implements.[42]
Agriculture appeared first inWest Asia about 10,000–9,000 years ago. The region was the centre of domestication for three cereals (einkorn wheat, emmer wheat and barley), four legumes (lentil, pea, bitter vetch and chickpea), and flax. Domestication was a slow process that unfolded across multiple regions, and was preceded by centuries if notmillennia of pre-domestication cultivation.[44]
Other sites in theLevantine corridor that show early evidence of agriculture includeWadi Faynan 16 andNetiv Hagdud.[24]Jacques Cauvin noted that the settlers of Aswad did not domesticate on site, but"arrived, perhaps from the neighbouringAnti-Lebanon, already equipped with the seed for planting".[45] In the Eastern Fertile Crescent, evidence of cultivation of wild plants has been found inChoga Gholan inIran dated to 12,000 BP, with domesticated emmer wheat appearing in 9,800 BP, suggesting there may have been multiple regions in the Fertile Crescent where cereal domestication evolved roughly contemporaneously.[46] TheHeavy NeolithicQaraoun culture has been identified at around fifty sites in Lebanon around the source springs of theRiver Jordan, but never reliably dated.[47][39]
Spatial distribution of rice, millet and mixed farming sites inNeolithic China (Heet al., 2017)[48]
Agriculture inNeolithic China can be separated into two broad regions, Northern China and Southern China.[48][49]
The agricultural centre in northern China is believed to be the homelands of the earlySino-Tibetan-speakers, associated with theHouli,Peiligang,Cishan, andXinglongwacultures, clustered around theYellow River basin.[48][49] It was the domestication centre forfoxtail millet (Setaria italica) andbroomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), with early evidence of domestication approximately 8,000 years ago,[50] and widespread cultivation 7,500 years ago.[50] (Soybean was also domesticated in northern China 4,500 years ago.[51]Orange andpeach also originated in China, being cultivatedc. 2500 BCE.[52][53])
Possiblelanguage family homelands, and likely routes of early rice transfer (c. 3,500 to 500 BCE). The approximate coastlines during the earlyHolocene are shown in lighter blue. (Bellwood, 2011)[49]
The agricultural centres in southern China are clustered around theYangtze River basin. Rice was domesticated in this region, together with the development ofpaddy field cultivation, between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago.[48][54][55]
There are two possible centres of domestication for rice. The first is in the lowerYangtze River, believed to be the homelands ofpre-Austronesians and associated with theKauhuqiao,Hemudu,Majiabang, andSongzecultures. It is characterized by typical pre-Austronesian features, including stilt houses, jade carving, and boat technologies. Their diet were also supplemented byacorns,water chestnuts,foxnuts, andpig domestication. The second is in the middle Yangtze River, believed to be the homelands of the earlyHmong–Mien speakers and associated with thePengtoushan andDaxicultures. Both of these regions were heavily populated and had regular trade contacts with each other, as well as with earlyAustroasiatic speakers to the west, and earlyKra-Dai speakers to the south, facilitating the spread of rice cultivation throughout southern China.[55][48][49]
The millet and rice-farming cultures also first came into contact with each other at around 9,000 to 7,000 BP, resulting in a corridor between the millet and rice cultivation centres where both rice and millet were cultivated.[48] At around 5,500 to 4,000 BP, there was increasing migration intoTaiwan from the early AustronesianDapenkeng culture, bringing rice and millet cultivation technology with them. During this period, there is evidence of large settlements and intensive rice cultivation in Taiwan and thePenghu Islands, which may have resulted inoverexploitation. Bellwood (2011) proposes that this may have been the impetus of theAustronesian expansion which started with the migration of the Austronesian-speakers from Taiwan to the Philippines at around 5,000 BP.[49]
Austronesians carried rice cultivation technology toIsland Southeast Asia along with other domesticated species. The new tropical island environments also had new food plants that they exploited. They carried usefulplants and animals during each colonization voyage, resulting in the rapid introduction of domesticated and semi-domesticated species throughoutOceania. They also came into contact with the early agricultural centres ofPapuan-speaking populations ofNew Guinea as well as theDravidian-speaking regions ofSouth India andSri Lanka by around 3,500 BP. They acquired further cultivated food plants like bananas and pepper from them, and in turn introduced Austronesian technologies like wetland cultivation andoutrigger canoes.[49][56][57][58] During the 1st millennium CE, they also colonizedMadagascar and theComoros, bringing Southeast Asian food plants, including rice, toEast Africa.[59][60]
On the African continent, three areas have been identified as having independently developed agriculture: theEthiopian highlands, theSahel andWest Africa.[41] By contrast,agriculture in the Nile River Valley is thought to be related to migration of populations[61] and to have developed from the original Neolithic Revolution in theFertile Crescent.Many grinding stones are found with the early EgyptianSebilian andMechian cultures and evidence has been found of a Neolithic domesticated crop-based economy dating around 7,000 BP.[62][63]Unlike the Middle East, this evidence appears as a "false dawn" to agriculture, as the sites were later abandoned, and permanent farming then was delayed until 6,500 BP with theTasian culture andBadarian culture and the arrival of crops and animals from the Near East.
Bananas andplantains, which were first domesticated inSoutheast Asia, most likelyPapua New Guinea, were re-domesticated in Africa possibly as early as 5,000 years ago. Asian yams andtaro were also cultivated in Africa.[41]
The most famous crop domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands iscoffee. In addition,khat,ensete,noog,teff andfinger millet were also domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands. Crops domesticated in the Sahel region includesorghum andpearl millet. Thekola nut was first domesticated in West Africa. Other crops domesticated in West Africa includeAfrican rice,yams and theoil palm.[41]
Agriculture spread to Central and Southern Africa in theBantu expansion during the 1st millennium BCE to 1st millennium CE.
Map of the world in 2000 BCE, just after the end of the3rd millennium BCE, colour coded by cultural stage.
Evidence of drainage ditches atKuk Swamp on the borders of theWestern andSouthern Highlands ofPapua New Guinea indicates cultivation oftaro and a variety of other crops, dating back to 11,000 BP. Two potentially significant economic species, taro (Colocasia esculenta) andyam (Dioscorea sp.), have been identified dating at least to 10,200 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Further evidence ofbananas andsugarcane dates to 6,950 to 6,440 BCE. This was at the altitudinal limits of these crops, and it has been suggested that cultivation in more favourable ranges in the lowlands may have been even earlier.CSIRO has found evidence that taro was introduced into theSolomon Islands for human use, from 28,000 years ago, making taro the earliest cultivated crop in the world.[66][67]It seems to have resulted in the spread of theTrans–New Guinea languages from New Guinea east into the Solomon Islands and west intoTimor and adjacent areas ofIndonesia. This seems to confirm the theories ofCarl Sauer who, in "Agricultural Origins and Dispersals", suggested as early as 1952 that this region was a centre of early agriculture.
Spread of farming from Southwest Asia to Europe, between 9600 and 3800 BCE
Archaeologists trace the emergence of food-producing societies in theLevantine region of southwest Asia at the close of the last glacial period around 12,000 BCE, and developed into a number of regionally distinctive cultures by the eighth millennium BCE. Remains of food-producing societies in theAegean have been carbon-dated toc. 6500 BCE atKnossos,Franchthi Cave, and a number of mainland sites inThessaly. Neolithic groups appear soon afterwards in theBalkans and south-central Europe. The Neolithic cultures ofsoutheastern Europe (theBalkans and theAegean) show some continuity with groups in southwest Asia andAnatolia (e.g.,Çatalhöyük).
Current evidence suggests that Neolithic material culture was introduced to Europe via western Anatolia. All Neolithic sites in Europe containceramics, and contain the plants and animals domesticated in Southwest Asia:einkorn,emmer,barley,lentils,pigs,goats,sheep, andcattle. Genetic data suggest that no independent domestication of animals took place in Neolithic Europe, and that all domesticated animals were originally domesticated in Southwest Asia.[68] The only domesticate not from Southwest Asia wasbroomcorn millet, domesticated in East Asia.[69]The earliest evidence ofcheese-making dates to 5500 BCE inKujawy,Poland.[70]
The diffusion across Europe, from the Aegean to Britain, took about 2,500 years (8500–6000 BP). The Baltic region was penetrated a bit later, around 5500 BP, and there was also a delay in settling thePannonian plain. In general, colonization shows a "saltatory" pattern, as the Neolithic advanced from one patch of fertile alluvial soil to another, bypassing mountainous areas. Analysis ofradiocarbon dates show clearly that Mesolithic and Neolithic populations lived side by side for as much as a millennium in many parts of Europe, especially in theIberian peninsula and along the Atlantic coast.[71]
Ancient European Neolithic farmers were genetically closest to modern Near-Eastern/ Anatolian populations. The map shows genetic matrilineal distances between European NeolithicLinear Pottery Culture populations (5,500–4,900 calibrated BP) and modern Western Eurasian populations.[72]
The spread of the Neolithic from theNear East Neolithic to Europe was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s, when a sufficient number ofCarbon 14 age determinations for early Neolithic sites had become available.[73] In 1973, Ammerman andCavalli-Sforza discovered a linear relationship between the age of an Early Neolithic site and its distance from the conventional source in the Near East (Jericho), demonstrating that the Neolithic spread at an average speed of about 1 km/yr.[73] More recent studies (2005) confirm these results and yield the speed of 0.6–1.3 km/yr (at 95% confidence level).[73]
Since the original humanexpansions out of Africa 200,000 years ago, different prehistoric and historic migration events have taken place in Europe.[74] Considering that the movement of the people implies a consequent movement of their genes, it is possible to estimate the impact of these migrations through the genetic analysis of human populations.[74] Agricultural and husbandry practices originated 10,000 years ago in a region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent.[74] According to the archaeological record this phenomenon, known as "Neolithic", rapidly expanded from these territories into Europe.[74]
However, whether this diffusion was accompanied or not by human migrations is greatly debated.[74]Mitochondrial DNA – a type of maternally inherited DNA located in the cell cytoplasm – was recovered from the remains ofPre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farmers in theNear East and then compared to available data from other Neolithic populations in Europe and also to modern populations from South Eastern Europe and the Near East.[74] The obtained results show that substantial human migrations were involved in the Neolithic spread and suggest that the first Neolithic farmers entered Europe following a maritime route throughCyprus and theAegean Islands.[74]
Map of the spread of Neolithic farming cultures from the Near-East to Europe, with dates in year BCE.
Modern distribution of the haplotypes of PPNB farmers
Genetic distance between PPNB farmers and modern populations
Early Neolithic sites in the Near East and South Asia 10,000–3,800 BP
Neolithic dispersal from the Near East to South Asia suggested by the time of establishment ofNeolithic sites as a function of distance fromGesher,Israel. The dispersal rate amounts to about 0.6 km per year[73]
The earliest Neolithic site in South Asia isMehrgarh, dated to between 6500 and 5500 BCE, in theKachi plain ofBalochistan, Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats).[75]
There is strong evidence for causal connections between the Near-Eastern Neolithic and that further east, up to the Indus Valley.[76] There are several lines of evidence that support the idea of connection between the Neolithic in the Near East and in the Indian subcontinent.[76] The prehistoric site of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan (modern Pakistan) is the earliest Neolithic site in the north-west Indian subcontinent, dated as early as 8500 BCE.[76]
Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley and a small amount of wheat. There is good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh, but the wheat varieties are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey.[76]
A detailed satellite map study of a few archaeological sites in the Baluchistan and Khybar Pakhtunkhwa regions also suggests similarities in early phases of farming with sites in Western Asia.[76] Pottery prepared by sequential slab construction, circular fire pits filled with burnt pebbles, and large granaries are common to both Mehrgarh and many Mesopotamian sites.[76]
The postures of the skeletal remains in graves at Mehrgarh bear strong resemblance to those at Ali Kosh in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran.[76] Despite their scarcity, the Carbon-14 and archaeological age determinations for early Neolithic sites in Southern Asia exhibit remarkable continuity across the vast region from the Near East to the Indian Subcontinent, consistent with a systematic eastward spread at a speed of about 0.65 km/yr.[76]
This sectionis missing information about more recent theories and includes some outdated/rejected theories. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(October 2024)
The most prominent of several theories (not mutually exclusive) as to factors that caused populations to develop agriculture include:
The Oasis Theory, originally proposed byRaphael Pumpelly in 1908, popularized byV. Gordon Childe in 1928 and summarised in Childe's bookMan Makes Himself.[21] This theory maintains that as the climate got drier due to the Atlantic depressions shifting northward, communities contracted tooases where they were forced into close association with animals, which were then domesticated together with planting of seeds. However, this theory now has little support amongst archaeologists because subsequent climate data suggests that the region was getting wetter rather than drier.[77]
TheHilly Flanks hypothesis, proposed byRobert John Braidwood in 1948, suggests that agriculture began in the hilly flanks of theTaurus andZagros Mountains, where the climate was not drier as Childe had believed, and fertile land supported a variety of plants and animals amenable to domestication.[78]
The Feasting model by Brian Hayden[79] suggests that agriculture was driven by ostentatious displays of power, such as giving feasts, to exert dominance. This required assembling large quantities of food, which drove agricultural technology.[80]
The Demographic theories proposed byCarl Sauer[81] and adapted byLewis Binford[82] andKent Flannery posit an increasingly sedentary population that expanded up to thecarrying capacity of the local environment and required more food than could be gathered. Various social and economic factors helped drive the need for food.
The evolutionary/intentionality theory, developed byDavid Rindos[83] and others, considers agriculture as an evolutionary adaptation of plants and humans. Starting with domestication by protection of wild plants, it resulted specialization of location and then complete domestication.[citation needed]
Leonid Grinin argues that whatever plants were cultivated, the independent invention of agriculture always occurred in special natural environments (e.g., South-East Asia). It is supposed that the cultivation of cereals started somewhere in the Near East: in the hills of Israel or Egypt. So Grinin dates the beginning of the agricultural revolution within the interval 12,000 to 9,000 BP, though in some cases the first cultivated plants or domesticated animals' bones are even of a more ancient age of 14–15 thousand years ago.[86]
Andrew Moore suggested that the Neolithic Revolution originated over long periods of development in theLevant, possibly beginning during theEpipaleolithic. In"A Reassessment of the Neolithic Revolution",Frank Hole further expanded the relationship between plant andanimal domestication. He suggested the events could have occurred independently during different periods of time, in as yet unexplored locations. He noted that no transition site had been found documenting the shift from what he termed immediate and delayed return social systems.[further explanation needed] He noted that the full range of domesticated animals (goats,sheep,cattle andpigs) were not found until the sixth millennium BCE atTell Ramad. Hole concluded that "close attention should be paid in future investigations to the western margins of theEuphrates basin, perhaps as far south as theArabian Peninsula, especially wherewadis carrying Pleistocene rainfall runoff flowed."[87]
World population (estimated) did not rise for a few millennia after the Neolithic revolution.
Despite the significant technological advance and advancements in knowledge, arts and trade, the Neolithic revolution did not lead immediately to a rapid growth of population. Its benefits appear to have been offset by various adverse effects, mostly diseases and warfare.[88][89]
The introduction of agriculture has not necessarily led to unequivocal progress. The nutritional standards of the growing Neolithic populations were inferior to that of hunter-gatherers. Several ethnological and archaeological studies conclude that the transition to cereal-based diets caused a reduction in life expectancy and stature, an increase in infant mortality and infectious diseases, the development of chronic, inflammatory or degenerative diseases (such as obesity,type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and multiple nutritional deficiencies, including vitamin deficiencies,iron deficiency anemia and mineral disorders affecting bones (such asosteoporosis andrickets) and teeth.[90][91][92] Average height for Europeans went down from 178 centimetres (5 ft 10 in) for men and 168 centimetres (5 ft 6 in) for women to 165 and 155 centimetres (5 ft 5 in and 5 ft 1 in) respectively, and it took until the twentieth century for average height for Europeans to return to the pre-Neolithic Revolution levels.[93]
The traditional view is that agricultural food production supported a denser population, which in turn supported larger sedentary communities, the accumulation of goods and tools, and specialization in diverse forms of new labor. Food surpluses made possible the development of a social elite who were not otherwise engaged in agriculture, industry or commerce, but dominated their communities by other means and monopolized decision-making. Nonetheless, larger societies made it more feasible for people to adopt diverse decision making and governance models.[94] Jared Diamond (inThe World Until Yesterday) identifies the availability of milk and cereal grains as permitting mothers to raise both an older (e.g. 3 or 4 year old) and a younger child concurrently. The result is that a population can increase more rapidly. Diamond, in agreement with feminist scholars such asV. Spike Peterson, points out that agriculture brought about deep social divisions and encouragedgender inequality.[95][96] This social reshuffle is traced by historical theorists, like Veronica Strang, through developments in theological depictions.[97] Strang supports her theory through a comparison of aquatic deities before and after the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution, most notably theVenus of Lespugue and the Greco-Roman deities such asCirce orCharybdis: the former venerated and respected, the latter dominated and conquered. The theory, supplemented by the widely accepted assumption from Parsons that "society is always the object of religious veneration",[98] argues that with the centralization of government and the dawn of the Anthropocene, roles within society became more restrictive and were rationalized through the conditioning effect of religion; a process that is crystallized in the progression from polytheism to monotheism.
Andrew Sherratt has argued that following upon the Neolithic Revolution was a second phase of discovery that he refers to as thesecondary products revolution. Animals, it appears, were first domesticated purely as a source of meat.[99] The Secondary Products Revolution occurred when it was recognised that animals also provided a number of other useful products. These included:
milk (from goats, cattle, yaks, sheep, horses, and camels)
traction (from oxen,onagers, donkeys, horses, camels, and dogs)
guarding and herding assistance (dogs)
Sherratt argued that this phase in agricultural development enabled humans to make use of the energy possibilities of their animals in new ways, and permitted permanent intensive subsistence farming and crop production, and the opening up of heavier soils for farming. It also made possiblenomadic pastoralism in semi arid areas, along the margins of deserts, and eventually led to the domestication of both thedromedary andBactrian camel.[99] Overgrazing of these areas, particularly by herds of goats, greatly extended the areal extent of deserts.
Compared to foragers, Neolithic farmers' diets were higher incarbohydrates but lower infibre,micronutrients, andprotein. This led to an increase in the frequency ofcarious teeth[7] and slower growth in childhoodand increasedbody fat[clarification needed], and studies have consistently found that populations around the world became shorter after the transition to agriculture. This trend may have been exacerbated by the greater seasonality of farming diets and with it the increased risk offamine due to crop failure.[6]
Throughout the development of sedentary societies, disease spread more rapidly than it had during the time in which hunter-gatherer societies existed. Inadequate sanitary practices and the domestication of animals may explain the rise in deaths and sickness following the Neolithic Revolution, as diseases jumped from the animal to the human population. Some examples ofinfectious diseases spread from animals to humans areinfluenza,smallpox, andmeasles.[100] Ancient microbial genomics has shown that progenitors to human-adapted strains ofSalmonella enterica infected up to 5,500 year old agro-pastoralists throughout Western Eurasia, providing molecular evidence for the hypothesis that the Neolithization process facilitated the emergence of Salmonella entericia.[101]
In concordance with a process ofnatural selection, the humans who first domesticated the bigmammals quickly built up immunities to the diseases as within each generation the individuals with better immunities had better chances of survival. In their approximately 10,000 years of shared proximity with animals, such as cows, Eurasians and Africans became more resistant to those diseases compared with the indigenous populations encountered outsideEurasia andAfrica.[41] For instance, the population of mostCaribbean and severalPacific Islands have been completely wiped out by diseases. 90% or more of many populations of the Americas werewiped out by European and African diseases before recorded contact with European explorers or colonists. Some cultures like theInca Empire did have a large domestic mammal, thellama, but llama milk was not drunk, nor did llamas live in a closed space with humans, so the risk of contagion was limited. According to bioarchaeological research, the effects of agriculture on dental health in Southeast Asian rice farming societies from 4000 to 1500 BP was not detrimental to the same extent as in other world regions.[102]
^abPollard, Elizabeth; Rosenberg, Clifford; Tigor, Robert (2015).Worlds together, worlds apart. Vol. 1 (concise ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 23.ISBN978-0-393-25093-0.
^Compare:Lewin, Roger (18 February 2009) [1984]."35: The origin of agriculture and the first villagers".Human Evolution: An Illustrated Introduction (5 ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: John Wiley & Sons (published 2009). p. 250.ISBN978-1-4051-5614-1. Retrieved20 August 2017.[...] The Neolithic transition involved increasing sedentism and social complexity, which was usually followed by the gradual adoption of plant and animal domestication. In some cases, however, plant domestication preceded sedentism, particularly in the New World.
^abChilde, Vere Gordon (1936).Man Makes Himself. London: Watts & Company.
^Brami, Maxime N. (1 December 2019). "The Invention of Prehistory and the Rediscovery of Europe: Exploring the Intellectual Roots of Gordon Childe's 'Neolithic Revolution' (1936)".Journal of World Prehistory.32 (4):311–351.doi:10.1007/s10963-019-09135-y.ISSN1573-7802.S2CID211663314.
^Thissen, L. "Appendix I, The CANeW 14C databases, Anatolia 10,000–5000 cal. BC." in: F. Gérard and L. Thissen (eds.), The Neolithic of Central Anatolia. Internal developments and external relations during the 9th–6th millennia cal BC, Proc. Int. CANeW Round Table, Istanbul 23–24 November 2001, (2002)
^Zohary, Daniel (1 April 1999). "Monophyletic vs. polyphyletic origin of the crops on which agriculture was founded in the Near East".Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution.46 (2):133–142.Bibcode:1999GRCEv..46..133Z.doi:10.1023/A:1008692912820.S2CID9529895 – via Springer Link.
^Hillman, G. C; Davies, M. S. (1992). "Domestication rate in wild wheats and barley under primitive cultivation: preliminary results and archaeological implications of field measurements of selection coefficient". In Anderson, PC (ed.).Préhistoire de l'agriculture: nouvelles approches expérimentales et ethnographiques. Monographie du CRA 6. Paris: Editions du CNRS. pp. 124–132.ISBN978-2-222-04546-5.
^Flannery, Kent V. (1969)."Origins and ecological effects of early domestication in Iran and the Near East". InUcko, Peter John; Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.).The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers (published 2007). p. 89.ISBN978-0-202-36557-2. Retrieved12 January 2019.Our earliest evidence for this new technology comes [...] from the lowland steppe of Khuzistan. [...] Once irrigation appeared, the steppe greatly increased its carrying capacity and became, in fact, the dominant growth centre of the Zagros region between 5500 and 4000 B.C.
^Lawton, H. W.; Wilke, P. J. (1979)."Ancient Agricultural Systems in Dry Regions of the Old World". In Hall, A. E.; Cannell, G. H.; Lawton, H.W. (eds.).Agriculture in Semi-Arid Environments. Ecological Studies. Vol. 34 (reprint ed.). Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media (published 2012). p. 13.ISBN978-3-642-67328-3. Retrieved12 January 2019.Archeological investigations on the Deh Luran Plain of Iran have provided a model for the internal dynamics of the culture sequence of prehistoric Khuzistan [...]. Somewhere between 5500 and 5000 B.C. in the Sabz phase of the Deh Luran Plain, irrigation water was apparently diverted from stream channels in a fashion similar to that employed in early Mesopotamia.
^Mahdi, Waruno (1999). "The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean". In Blench, Roger; Spriggs, Matthew (eds.).Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts languages, and texts. One World Archaeology. Vol. 34. Routledge. pp. 144–179.ISBN978-0-415-10054-0.
^Smith, Philip E. L. (1976). "Stone-Age Man on the Nile".Scientific American.235 (2):30–41.Bibcode:1976SciAm.235b..30S.doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0876-30.ISSN0036-8733.With the benefit of hindsight we can now see that many Late Paleolithic peoples in the Old World were poised on the brink of plant cultivation and animal husbandry as an alternative to the hunter-gatherer's way of life
^Johannessen, S.; Hastorf, C. A. (eds.).Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World. Westview Press.
^Fullagar, Richard; Field, Judith; Denham, Tim; Lentfer, Carol (2006). "Early and mid Holocene tool-use and processing of taro (Colocasia esculenta), yam (Dioscorea sp.) and other plants at Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea".Journal of Archaeological Science.33 (5):595–614.Bibcode:2006JArSc..33..595F.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.020.
^Loy, Thomas H.; Spriggs, Matthew; Wickler, Stephen (1992). "Direct evidence for human use of plants 28,000 years ago: starch residues on stone artefacts from the northern Solomon Islands".Antiquity.66 (253):898–912.doi:10.1017/S0003598X00044811.ISSN0003-598X.
^Coningham, Robin; Young, Ruth (2015).The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BCE–200 CE. Cambridge University Press. p. 111.ISBN978-1-316-41898-7.
^Scarre, Christopher (2005). "The World Transformed: From Foragers and Farmers to States and Empires".The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 188.ISBN0-500-28531-4.
^Charles E. Redman (1978).Rise of Civilization: From Early Hunters to Urban Society in the Ancient Near East. San Francisco: Freeman.
^Hayden, Brian (1992). "Models of Domestication". In Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T. Douglas Price (ed.).Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory. Madison: Prehistory Press. pp. 11–18.
^Sauer, Carl O. (1952).Agricultural origins and dispersals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
^Binford, Lewis R. (1968)."Post-Pleistocene Adaptations". In Sally R. Binford and Lewis R. Binford (ed.).New Perspectives in Archaeology. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. pp. 313–342.
^Rindos, David (December 1987).The Origins of Agriculture: An Evolutionary Perspective. Academic Press.ISBN978-0-12-589281-0.
^Richerson, Peter J.; Boyd, Robert (2001). "Was Agriculture Impossible during the Pleistocene but Mandatory during the Holocene?".American Antiquity.66 (3):387–411.doi:10.2307/2694241.JSTOR2694241.S2CID163474968.
^James C. Scott,Against the Grain: a Deep History of the Earliest States, NJ: Yale UP, (2017), "The world's population in 10 000 BC, according to a careful estimate was roughly 4 million. A full five thousand years later it has risen only to 5 million...One likely explanation for this apparent human progress in subsistance techniques together with a long period of demographic stagnation is that epidemologically this was perhaps the most lethal period in human history".
^Parsons, Talcott (1944). ""The Theoretical Development of the Sociology of Religion: A Chapter in the History of Modern Social Science."".Journal of the History of Ideas.5 (2):176–190.doi:10.2307/2707383.JSTOR2707383.
^abSherratt, A (1981). "Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the secondary products revolution". In Hodder, Ian; Isaac, Glynn Llywelyn; Hammond, Norman (eds.).Pattern of the Past: Studies in honour of David Clarke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 261–305.ISBN978-0-521-22763-6.
^Key, Felix M.; Posth, Cosimo; Esquivel-Gomez, Luis R.; Hübler, Ron; Spyrou, Maria A.; Neumann, Gunnar U.; Furtwängler, Anja; Sabin, Susanna; Burri, Marta; Wissgott, Antje; Lankapalli, Aditya Kumar; Vågene, Åshild J.; Meyer, Matthias; Nagel, Sarah; Tukhbatova, Rezeda; Khokhlov, Aleksandr; Chizhevsky, Andrey; Hansen, Svend; Belinsky, Andrey B.; Kalmykov, Alexey; Kantorovich, Anatoly R.; Maslov, Vladimir E.; Stockhammer, Philipp W.; Vai, Stefania; Zavattaro, Monica; Riga, Alessandro; Caramelli, David; Skeates, Robin; Beckett, Jessica; Gradoli, Maria Giuseppina; Steuri, Noah; Hafner, Albert; Ramstein, Marianne; Siebke, Inga; Lösch, Sandra; Erdal, Yilmaz Selim; Alikhan, Nabil-Fareed; Zhou, Zhemin; Achtman, Mark; Bos, Kirsten; Reinhold, Sabine; Haak, Wolfgang; Kühnert, Denise; Herbig, Alexander; Krause, Johannes (March 2020)."Emergence of human-adapted Salmonella enterica is linked to the Neolithization process".Nature Ecology & Evolution.4 (3):324–333.Bibcode:2020NatEE...4..324K.doi:10.1038/s41559-020-1106-9.ISSN2397-334X.PMC7186082.PMID32094538.
^Halcrow, S. E.; Harris, N. J.; Tayles, N.; Ikehara-Quebral, R.; Pietrusewsky, M. (2013). "From the mouths of babes: Dental caries in infants and children and the intensification of agriculture in mainland Southeast Asia".American Journal of Physical Anthropology.150 (3):409–420.Bibcode:2013AJPA..150..409H.doi:10.1002/ajpa.22215.PMID23359102.
Bailey, Douglass. (2001).Balkan Prehistory: Exclusions, Incorporation and Identity. Routledge Publishers.ISBN0-415-21598-6.
Bailey, Douglass. (2005).Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic. Routledge Publishers.ISBN0-415-33152-8.
Balter, Michael (2005).The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk, An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization. New York: Free Press.ISBN0-7432-4360-9.
Bellwood, Peter (2004).First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies. Blackwell.ISBN0-631-20566-7.
Bocquet-Appel, Jean-Pierre, editor andOfer Bar-Yosef, editor,The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences, Springer (21 October 2008), hardcover, 544 pages,ISBN978-1-4020-8538-3, trade paperback and Kindle editions are also available.
Cohen, Mark Nathan (1977)The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-02016-3.
Diamond, Jared (2002). "Evolution, Consequences and Future of Plant and Animal Domestication".Nature, Vol 418.
Harlan, Jack R. (1992).Crops & Man: Views on Agricultural Origins ASA, CSA, Madison, WI.Hort 306 - READING 3-1
Wright, Gary A. (1971). "Origins of Food Production in Southwestern Asia: A Survey of Ideas" Current Anthropology, Vol. 12, No. 4/5 (Oct.–Dec. 1971), pp. 447–477
.png)
_and_modern_Western_Eurasian_populations.jpg)
.png)
